Iran quashes death sentence for Canadian resident

Iran's Supreme Court has quashed the death sentence for a Canadian resident.

Saeed Malekpour has been in an Iranian prison since 2008.

The 35-year-old freelance web developer who lives in Ontario was arrested on a visit to Iran after a piece of web code he developed was used, allegedly without his knowledge, on a porn website.

He was charged with designing and moderating adult content websites, as well as taking action against national security, agitating against the regime, contact with foreign entities and insulting the sanctity of Islam.

His supporters, who run the website People Without Nation, announced in December, "Saeed has been sentenced to death."

On Wednesday a spokesman for Foreign Affairs said the federal government was aware of reports Malekpour's sentence had been commuted.

"Officials are working to confirm or deny these reports. Unfortunately, there is limited scope for direct intervention in this case since the person involved is not a Canadian citizen," Alain Cacchione said in an e-mail.

According to the site, Malekpour wrote a letter from prison saying he'd been brutally tortured to obtain a videotaped forced confession: "While I remained blindfolded and handcuffed, several individuals armed with cables, batons and fists struck and punched me."